FARMERS in North and East Yorkshire are being charged for the air they breathe by a 'scam' business deal which has targeted the area.

The business, known as the Wayleaf Partnership Ltd and apparently trading from Shropshire, has been sending mail-shots to farmers across the region asking them to subscribe to a scheme that it is claimed will generate money from mobile telephone system operators who pass signals over farmers' land.

Some farmers have already subscribed to the scheme, having already sent the company £350.

In practice, the scheme is impossible as no one has any rights to what passes through the air above the land they may own.

According to Trading Standards, the scheme is a scam. The perpetrator has not yet been identified the mail-shot has only an accommodation address.

Rob Simpson, spokesman for the National Farmer's Union in Yorkshire, said: " This incident is a symptom of farming in crisis. In desperation, farmers are sending money to the scheme as it promises to deliver financial reward quickly.

Trading Standards officers are keen to capture the culprits and are asking any farmers who have been targeted so far to show them the paperwork they have received.